Improvement in plaiting-machines



2 Sheets-#Sheet 2.

P. PANSE., Waiting-Machine. No. 214,787; Pat'ented April 29,1879.

HIIIHIHI m UNITED STATES FRIEDRICH PANSE, OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT ,TO DAVID KISOH AND LOUIS M.SIMSON,.SAME PLAGE.

LIM PRovElvl ENT INV PLAITING-MACHINES.

Specification forming partof Letters Patent No. 214,787, dated April 29,1879 application led January 27, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, FRIEDRICH PANsE, of the city of New York, in thecounty and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Plaiting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of my improvedplaiting-machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof;Fig. 3, a detailed longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of theblade-chain used for forming the plaits; Fig. 4t, a plan or top view ofthe machine; Fig. 5, a detailed sectional view of a modificationthereof, and Fig. 6 a top view of the modification.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theiigures.

This invention relates to a machine for forming plaits by continuousprocess, and by means of a chain of blades, which are made to lap overthe doubled fabric to retain it in the doubled condition until thefabric is ready to be discharged from the machine. In connection withthis chain I use a plaiting instrument in shape of a toothed roller orreciprocating blade, which, entering between the blades of the chain,puckers the fabric down and brings o it into the folded or plaitedcondition.

The invention consists, aside from the features which are hereinabovementioned, in various other details of improvement, which will be morefully pointed out in the detailed description of the parts of themachine.

In the drawings, the letter Arepresents the frame of the machine. Inthis frame is placed, between suitable cheek-pieces thereof, an endlesschain, B, which passes around two drums or rollers, C D, and to which`motion in the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 2 is impartedwhenever one of these drums or rollers is revolved.

The chain B is composed of a series of pivoted blades, a c, which can bemade to overlap one another, as at the middle portion of Fig. 2, or tostand substantially parallel to each other, as at the left-hand end ofFig. 2.

In the former position they are held, and in it they are virtuallyconfined, by means of a stationary plate, b, which is a iixture in theframe of the machine below the upper part of theendless chain. Thisplate b, when struck by the lower ends of the blades, folds themtogether, because the distance from the center or pivot of each bladeand the lowermost end of the same is longer than the distance betweenthe pivot and the upper surface of the plate b.

It will be furthermore perceived that when the blades lap over oneanother, as in Fig. 3, the outer part of the one blade bears against theinner part of the neXt adjoining blade, &c. Before reaching contact withthe plate b in its rotation in the direction of the arrow the blades arefree to vibrate on their pivots, to fall or be moved apart, as indicatedat the left-hand end of Fig. 2. Above this free portion, or, as I mayterm it, liberated portion, of the blade-chain, is hung a roller, E,which is provided with a series of projecting lips or teeth, that areadapted to enter between the blades, in manner indicated in Figs. 2 and3.

The roller E is hung in vertically-adjustable bearings, and the frictionwith whichit revolves in its bearings may be further adjusted by meansof suitable screws d, bearing upon elastic friction-plates m. Y

Positive motion by outside mechanism is not intended to be imparted tothe roller E, my object being to have it turn by means of the projectingblades of the endless chain, which, as they strike the rounded end e ofthe plate b, are turned up into the way of the roller E, touch one ofthe lips or teeth thereof, and, as the motion of the chain is continued,impart intermittent rotary motion to said roller in the direction of thearrow 2. (Shown in Fig. 2.)

The fabric to be plaited is admitted to the machine overfriction-rollers or guide-pieces F F, from which it passes to the topsurface of the chain B, and here it has to ride over the elevated bladesatthe left-hand end thereof, being the end which is nearest to theguidepieces F. As each blade takes hold of a projecting lip or tooth ofthe roller E, the lip or tooth in question pushes the fabric beneath itagainst the face ofthe said blade, as shownin the first left-hand bladeof Fig. 3;` and in this position, against the face of the blade, thefabric is confined as soon thereafter as the blade is folded down uponthe blade next in front of it, thereby doubling the fabric in betweenthe several blades in manner clearly shown in Fig. 3. Having been thusdoubled or plaited, the fabric is confined in the new position by beingclamped between the severaliblades until, after having traversed thelength of the machine, it is discharged and allowed to pass out betweentwo rollers, G and H, and over another roller, I, or through othersuitable channels.

Pending its passage through the machine, asin manner stated, the fabric,which is usually but not necessarily moistened and starched, is exposedto the action of heat that is applied beneath the machine against theheating-plate J, (shown in Fig. 2,) under which there is a suitableburner, so that the starched or unstarched fabric will be dried andcaused to maintain the position into whlch it is folded by the apparatusherein described.

In some cases it is desirable to partly plait and partly leave flat apiece of fabric. To perform this, it is only necessary on my machine toleave part of the chain Bwithout the blades wherever the fabric is notto be plaited.

Thus in Fig. 2 is shown the right hand and lowerpart of the chain to bewithout the blades, simply provided with blank rollers, which will haveno effect upon the roller E, and therefore consequently, also, none uponthe fabric. The rollers in question, being the blank parts of the chain,'are marked f in the drawings.

In Figs. 5 and 6 is shown a modification of my invention, which consistsin substituting for the roller E a vibrating, and, to some eX- tent,reciprocating plate, L, which is made to slide on a rock-shaft, M, andto rock with the same, and which forms the plaits in precisely thesamemanner in which they are formed by the lips or teeth of the rollerE.

The rock-shaft obtains its vibrating` motion through the aid of a crank,g, which bears upon a toothed roller, h. Whenever one of the teeth ofthe roller l1J strikes the crank g and elevates the same, it causes theshaft M to vibrate and the plate L to be pushed down between the twoblades of the chain, and thereafter the crank drops behind the tooth,and the plate L is, by a suitable spring, raised out from between thetwo blades of the chain, and continues to form plaits in manner fullyunderstood from the foregoing description.

On this modification, in order to produce blank parts on a fabric, or,in other words, leave them hat, it is only necessary to remove some ofthe teeth from the roller h, as indicated in Fig. 5, thereby preventingthe plate L from vibrating and from performing the functions which,otherwise, it performs in making plaits.

It is, of course, well understood that whenever the upper part of theplate L is pushed down between two blades of the chain it forms a plait,which is then grasped by the two blades of the chain coming closetogether after the elevation of the plate L. Thus the plate L operatesas the equivalent of the roller E.

l claim- 1. In a plaiting-machine, the combination of the chain or apronhaving overlapping blades a a, with the roller E, having one or moreprojecting lips or teeth to enter between the blades of the chain andform plaits, and with mechanism forfolding the blades a against oneanother after the withdrawal of the said lips or teeth, substantially asherein shown and described.

2. In combination with the chain or apron having the overlapping bladesa a, the lower plate, b, applied for the purpose of fixing the positionof the blades with reference to one another, substantially as specified.

3. The heating-plate J, applied in combination with the chain B, havingblades a a, and shaft E, substantially as specified.

4. The combination of the bladed chain B' and toothed roller E with theelastic frictionpiece m and adjusting-screw d, the elasticfriction-piece bearing bodily upon the sh aft of the roller,substantially as herein shown and described.

FRIEDRIGH PANSE.

Witnesses:-

F. v. BRIESEN, T. B. MosHER.

